Young bullfighter brave beyond years

At the tender age of 12, Michel Lagravere is a sensation in bullfighting circles, the youngest bullfighter in the world. He displays little fear before snorting, charging bulls, some of which weigh around 900 pounds. By his own reckoning, he already has slain hundreds of them. So far this year, he has unsheathed his sword and waved his cape in 46 bullrings around Mexico, among them the famed Plaza Mexico in the capital. He has challenged bulls in Colombia, Peru and France and has his hopes set on Spain. Known simply as ``Michelito,'' the seventh-grader is the latest of a breed of ever-younger extreme athletes. So far this year, records have been broken for the youngest person to scale Mount Everest -- 13-year-old Jordan Romero, an American -- and the youngest person to sail around the world alone, 16-year-old Jessica Watson, an Australian. As adolescents gain attention for athletic achievements at younger ages, the focus now falls on a precocious bullfighter who stands all of 4 feet 10...more